Shoot the Moon (1982)

	Directed by: Alan Parker	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Når kjærligheten dør RUNNING TIME 123 minutes
	Produced by: Alan Marshall
	Written by: Bo Goldman

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
George Dunlap	Albert Finney
Faith Dunlap	Diane Keaton	½
Sandy	Karen Allen
Frank Henderson	Peter Weller
Sherry Dunlap	Dana Hill	½
Jill Dunlap	Viveka Davis
Marianne Dunlap	Tracey Gold
Molly Dunlap	Tina Yothers

Review

Albert Finney and Diane Keaton star in this Palme d'Or-nominated 1982 drama directed by Alan Parker – an intense, immaculate dissection of the break-up of a marriage and family. The mechanisms at play and the challenges faced by both married parties and the children caught in the middle are painfully familiar for anyone who has been in this situation. And although Shoot the Moon handles issues and depicts characters and gender roles that are typical for the period of the 1970s to the early 1980s, there is a timelessness in the human repercussions of it all, perhaps best exemplified through the eldest daughter Sherry (brilliantly played by Dana Hill). One of Parker's greatest achievements here is how he makes the group of siblings into a closely bonded, naturally vivacious bunch. The child actresses don't look like they're acting; they seem to be living this reality, torn between their loyalty to their father and mother. At 35, Keaton's youthful glow was already gone here, but she and Parker use this for effect to portray her character's jaded disillusionment. When she becomes involved with her tennis court contractor Frank (Peter Weller), she does so with an almost non-romantic pragmatism. Even the upbeat parts of Shoot the Moon have a sense of gloom to them, but the film is so beautifully shot and the dramatic scenes so well-directed that you're drawn into the emotional mire the characters find themselves in. Typically for this time period, every action is acknowledged and accepted, even acts of male frustration that today might be given the trite label of 'toxic masculinity'. The film is packed with emblematic scenes, from a hilarious quarrel at a restaurant to the slightly overwrought ending.